


Modern Times, Modern Solutions

by Butternuggets



Category: The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:41:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24445987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Butternuggets/pseuds/Butternuggets
Summary: A "modern character gets time-travel-via-late-night-tv to the shenanigans" and fixes everything AU. Because it makes more sense that someone from now would be aware enough to pack decent clothes for everyone, apologise to Tuunbaq and try to get help early..
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Modern Times, Modern Solutions

He'd been watching TV. Then the storm broke and all hell broke loose. So now he's here, on a ship, in the middle of nowhere. The rain's pouring down and he misses his cat, and his sister, and his tiny flat in London and his old job but dammit, he's going to be the best sailor the English Navy's ever had!

He moves around departments a lot: Crozier's begrudgingly polite about having a spare hand on board standing idle most of the day but the men like him and he's a very attentive listener. Pretty soon Jopson's getting him to help with the captain's "bouts of illness" and after that he's almost as close to Crozier as Blanky, if only because the older man can vent to him about anything without fear of being looked down on for swearing.

He tolerates Irving and his bible, and nearly comes to blows with some of the marines over their anti-Scot/anti-Irish comments. He catches on to Hickey and Gibson, then Peglar and Bridgens; pretty soon he knows to stamp his feet loudly on the ladder when descending deep into the hold.

He tells Fitzjames he's a terrible storyteller, and gives him some pointers on dealing with Crozier. He curses and swears to Blanky about Sir John and his "values". Blanky nods, laughs, and offers him some baccy.

When they reach closer to the poles he spends the last of his money on as many fur coats and boots as he can trade for. It's not enough, nowhere near enough. He tries not to think about that.

He'd spotted the rotten food shortly after they left port: it took sneaking down into the hold, three hours of counting, then getting samples tested by McDonald with a furious captain breathing down his neck ("-not permitted in stores! What gives you the right-") before a mollified Crozier takes him over to Erebus with the bad news. They can't turn back but they restock as soon as possible.

And then they've arrived. It's colder and more beautiful and impossible than anything he has ever seen and he tells Ned as much while they sit up on deck, watching the stars.

The ice sets in (he spat bitter, twisted venom into the wind as soon as he'd heard Sir John had vetoed Crozier).

The shaman still gets shot, still dies, although he tries to give Goodsir a better chance of saving him with a length of rubber tubing he uses to suck out the excess blood.

"Shove him down a hole sir?"

He reels. A short jump through a window and a short jog with a sled and he comes face to face with the closest thing he's ever seen to a god. He's sure it was human once. 

It looks at him.

He falls to his knees, his body conveying the apology he's certain isn't enough.

It roars its grief, nose snuffling its friend's frozen form.

He slips away quietly.

Tuunbaq takes him down mere metres from the ship; a sacrifice demanded and paid for with a few thick scars and a missing leg. Gore and Sir John go bear hunting. They don't return.

Crozier spirals and he helps prop up Fitzjames and Ned as best he can, hopping back and forth between ships. He hides as much extra booze in the medical stores as he dares, pens a letter to each of them, and heads out for the supply drop, Neptune and Silna in tow, when it becomes clear that they're expecting to spend another winter alone in the frozen waste.

Tuunbaq is waiting, but it doesn't want blood. It watches them, hunts beside them, keeps them company on the long, lonely trek. There's a language barrier but they work at it and before long there's a bit of mutual understanding.

They find Ross.

The message stammers through cracked, frozen lips: Terror and Erebus are frozen in. Please help us.

The hobbling ghost and the bear dog lead them on the winding path back, working their way around the drifts and through the snow until- _there!_ Yellow lights blazing like beacons through the fog.

And the rest of the ghosts march home.

**Author's Note:**

> I only uploaded this here because @glorioustidalwavedefendor was having trouble finding it on my Tumblr account.
> 
> ...I may add more detail later, like maybe character POV chapters, but this is it for now.


End file.
